My trip to Tanzania this August was one of the most unique and memorable adventures in my life. Everything I experienced there shook me deeply and changed my perspective. After the trip, I spent a lot of time reflecting and talking to my closest friends about my experience. I remember when I arrived in Amsterdam from Tanzania, Jana made me breakfast and asked me about my trip. I talked for 3 hours straight because I was still so emotionally overwhelmed. After I returned to the US, even though I went right back to my daily routine, I still felt like I was in a wild dream. Tanzania lit a blazing flame in my heart. 3 months later, my emotions are finally more settled, but the inner flame is still burning. It is no longer roaring fiercely, but I hope it will continue to burn steadily and light my way through the rest of my life.
This was my very first time visiting Africa. Before this trip, Africa, Kilimanjaro, and Serengeti were faraway places that I had only seen in books and documentaries. I never thought I would visit one day, so it was an extremely powerful experience for me to see these places with my own eyes. I love nature and I have seen a good amount in Asia, North America, and Europe, but the sceneries in Africa are so different — I felt incredibly humbled by everything I saw.
Kilimanjaro is the biggest mountain I’ve ever seen in my life. (Technically I never saw the whole mountain because half of it was always covered in clouds.) Although the hike crushed me, I absolutely loved the scenery and vegetation changes along the way. After the hike, we went on a safari to Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater, and Serengeti. It was my first time seeing the savanna. Tarangire is known as the “Elephant Paradise,” and it did not disappoint — we saw many elephants (along with other wildlife) roaming in the savanna, and it was amazing. I have seen a lot of basins and craters in my life, but Ngorongoro is like no other crater. It was very humbling to see how Mother Nature turned a deserted volcanic crater into a giant ecosystem that supports hundreds of thousands of wild animals. Serengeti means “endless plain” in Masai. It was indeed vast and endless. When we arrived late in the afternoon, the sunbeams through the clouds and dusty air looked like light from heaven. (I could finally see where Disney got their inspiration for The Lion King from.)
We saw so much wildlife — elephants, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, buffalos, ostriches, hippos, warthogs, baboons, hyenas, lions, leopards, cheetahs, antelopes of all shapes and sizes… and many more — most of which I had never seen in real life before. There was something magical about watching these big animals simply going about their day in the savanna. During our trip, I often felt like I could just watch them graze until the end of the world and not worry about anything else. I was the most impressed with all the big cats we saw. I am not a cat person, but I somehow became obsessed with lions, leopards, and cheetahs in Serengeti. (Our guide was very proud of the big cats too. After we saw our first pride of lions, he said with lots of enthusiasm, “This is Africa! This is Serengeti! Home of the African big cats!”) I will also never forget the elephant march we saw when we were wrapping up our last day in Serengeti. There were about 20 of them, of all sizes and ages. (There was a baby elephant following its mom around that looked exactly like Dumbo.) I didn’t know where they came from and where they were heading, but I loved watching them march slowly but steadily in a line across the savanna. It was magnificent.
Besides the sceneries and wild animals, what I saw about the people in Tanzania perhaps touched my heart more than anything else. Tanzania is a postcolonial developing country. Taiwan is also postcolonial. By the time I was born, Taiwan already went through the economic miracle and became a developed country, but I still grew up with the relics of our colonial history. Tanzania reminded me of that part of Taiwan — the agriculture (especially all the tropical crops that we also have in Taiwan), the open-air markets, the burning sugarcane, the lush rural areas, and sometimes even my interactions with the locals. Tanzania is not as modern as most countries I’ve been to, but it brought me an odd sense of familiarity and a lot of emotions. Before my trip, I thought Tanzania would be exotic and completely different from everything I knew, but many things in Tanzania actually made me feel connected. Perhaps Taiwan was not that different before we became a semiconductor superpower. After all, at the end of the day, we are all humans.
My interactions with the locals and what I learned from them were what changed my perspective the most. For example, we had to hire porters for our Kilimanjaro trek. I didn’t know what to expect since I never had other people carry my stuff when I hike. I was told that there would be minimal interaction with the porters and I should just not worry about them. However, thanks to Callisto, we ended up getting to know all of our porters and learning Swahili from them. As we spent time with them, I learned more about their jobs, their lives, and the tourism industry in Tanzania. (Emanuel, who helped me through my summit push, is 29 and wants to be a guide one day. He just started to learn English 3 months before our trip because Kilimanjaro guides must be fluent in English. Although we mostly communicated through a few English words and a lot of body language, I somehow felt very connected to his story because if I were a young Tanzanian man, I would probably have done the same.) The more I learn about what they do, the more respect and appreciation I have for them. The mountain itself was hard enough for me; they not only had to go up the mountain with us (much faster), but also carried everything else (including all our food and water), took care of us, and did everything that we were unable to do ourselves. I hiked and backpacked a lot in the US, but I wouldn’t have even made it through day 1 on Kilimanjaro without them.
I am also deeply touched by the positive energy I saw among the Tanzanians (although I am aware what I saw might not necessarily be representative of the whole country because I only interacted with the tourism sector). Although I have been doing pretty well in Taiwan and in the US, I know I won’t be able to survive a day on my own in Tanzania because the environment is very different from what I am used to, and the way things work there seems totally fluid. (I only thrive in structured environments.) However, everyone I met there seemed to have very vibrant energy. They love their mountains and wildlife, they are proud of their culture, they know so much more about Mother Nature than I do, and they can thrive with so much less. This was a very humbling experience — although I am pretty accomplished in certain aspects of my life (such as my academic and professional career), what I saw in the Tanzanians reminded me that there is so much more out there in the world, and I should never be full of myself.
Finally, I am incredibly thankful for my travel partners: Callisto, Andy, and Conrad. We all took great care of each other on the trip. We shared our supplies, medications, photos, and when one person struggled, everyone was there to help. (For example, when Callisto and I were destroyed by altitude sickness and Conrad was exhausted, Andy took care of everything and made sure we could get down quickly.) I also loved talking to them about what I saw and how I felt at the end of each day — I enjoyed hearing about their thoughts, and they all had great perspectives that inspired me. This was also the first time that I got to spend an extended amount of time with Callisto in several years. She was the one who got me into outdoor adventures. After she moved away, I continued to adventure, and I often think of her on my trips. I was thrilled to go on another epic adventure with her after all these years, and I loved how we could talk for hours by a huge campfire under the starry sky, just like the old days. Thanks to them, this trip was elevated from an adventure to a truly meaningful life experience. I hope I can travel with them again soon.
Tanzania was an emotional and life-changing experience. Although I feel like I am still digesting what I saw after 3 months, there are a few things that I am already reminding myself to do every day after I came back to the US. First, I need to stop worrying about my first-world problems. Before this trip, I already knew many things that bothered me were not that important in the grand scheme of things, but I didn’t have a good way to stop wasting time worrying about them. What I saw in Tanzania was a very powerful reminder for me that there are more important problems in the world. If others can thrive with much less than what I have, then I really need to stop worrying about people and things that don’t matter. I should focus my time and energy on what’s the most important to me: having control over how I live my life, my family, and my core group of friends.
I have always loved to travel, but in the past, I have mostly been to places I could navigate relatively well on my own. Tanzania made me want to go to more places that will make me slightly uncomfortable and challenge what I believe. These are the places that will make me grow fast, give me new perspectives, and help me appreciate people who are different from me. I believe this will make me more mature and my life more meaningful.
Asante sana, Tanzania! I think I left a piece of my heart with you while you lit a fire in my heart. I hope to be back again one day.
今年八月的坦尚尼亞之旅是我一生中最特別、最難忘的經歷之一。我在當地的所見所聞令我感觸良多，並改變了我的許多觀點。旅行結束後，我花了許多時間反思，並與我最親近的朋友們談論我的經歷。我記得我剛從坦尚尼亞回到阿姆斯特丹時，Jana 為我做了早餐，並問我玩得如何。當時依然情緒激動的我，滔滔不絕地跟她傾訴了三個小時。回到美國後，儘管我迅速回歸了日常生活，但我仍然時常感覺身處一個色彩迷離的夢境。坦尚尼亞在我心中點燃了一把熊熊的烈焰， 三個月過後，我的心緒平復了，但心的中的那把火焰仍在獵獵燃燒。它不再像當初一樣猛烈地咆哮、彷彿隨時可以將一切燒成灰燼，但我希望它能繼續穩定地發光發熱，成為我心中的力量、照亮我的餘生。
這是我第一次去非洲。此行之前，非洲、吉力馬扎羅山、塞倫蓋蒂都是我只在書本和紀錄片中才能見到的遙遠地方。我從來沒有想過有一天能親自踏足——親眼看到這些彷彿只存在於傳說中的地方實在非常震撼人心。我熱愛大自然，在亞洲、北美和歐洲都見識過不少風景，但非洲的景色卻截然不同，讓我實實在在地感受到了蘇軾在《赤壁賦》中的感嘆：「寄蜉蝣於天地，渺滄海之一粟。哀吾生之須臾，羨長江之無窮。」
吉力馬扎羅山是我此生見過的最巨大的一座山峰。（嚴格來說，我其實從未見過完整的吉力馬札羅，因為整座山總有一半掩翳在雲層之後。） 雖然五天的高海拔徒步令我筋疲力盡，但沿途的風景和植被變化令我印象深刻。下山後，我們前往塔蘭吉雷、恩戈羅恩戈羅火山口和塞倫蓋蒂大草原進行獵游——我第一次見到了熱帶的疏林莽原。塔蘭吉雷被稱為「大象天堂」，它果真名副其實——我們看到許多大象（以及其他野生動物）在莽原上漫步，第一次近距離接觸這麼多大型野生動物，我看得目不轉睛。我曾見過許多盆地和火山口，但恩戈羅恩戈羅和其他火山口都不一樣：大自然歷經了千萬年，將一個荒蕪的火山口變成一個承載數以萬計野生動物的巨大生態系統，令我無比讚嘆和敬畏。塞倫蓋蒂在馬賽語中是「無盡的平原」的意思。它確實浩瀚無邊，當我們傍晚抵達時，穿透雲層和飛揚的塵土間的陽光，彷彿來自天堂。 （我終於明白迪士尼《獅子王》的靈感是從哪裡來的了。）
獵游途中，我們見到了大量的野生動物——大象、長頸鹿、斑馬、角馬、水牛、鴕鳥、河馬、疣豬、狒狒、鬣狗、獅子、豹子、獵豹、品種和大小各異的羚羊……等等，其中大部分是我從未親眼見過的。看著動物們在莽原原上慢悠悠地過日子是一種神奇的體驗，我時常看著看著就形成一種錯覺，彷彿我可以什麼都不做，光看著它們慢條斯理地吃草，一直看到世界末日。我印象最深刻的是我們看到的所有大型貓科動物。我不是一個愛貓人士，但不知為何，我對塞倫蓋蒂的獅子、花豹和獵豹十分著迷。 （看到我們如此驚豔，我們的導遊非常自豪。當我們看到第一群獅子時，他熱情又驕傲地說：「這就是非洲！這就是塞倫蓋蒂！非洲大型貓科動物的家鄉！）我也永遠不會忘記我們在塞倫蓋蒂的最後一天看到的大象行進。我們看到一群大約20頭大小、年齡不一的大象（有一頭小象跌跌撞撞地跟著它的媽媽，看起來和電影裡的小飛象一模一樣。），我不知道牠們從哪裡來，又要往哪裡去，但當我入迷似地盯著它們緩慢卻步伐堅定地排成一排穿過莽原時，我覺得這個世界上再也沒有令我煩憂的事了。
除了風景和野生動物之外，坦尚尼亞的人民也令我十分感動。坦尚尼亞是一個後殖民時期的開發中國家。台灣也曾經被殖民，當我出生時，台灣已經透過經濟奇蹟成為了已開發國家，但是生活中仍有殖民歷史的痕跡。坦尚尼亞讓我想起了那一部分的台灣：農業（尤其跟台灣相似的熱帶作物）、露天的菜市場、燃燒的甘蔗、鬱鬱蔥蔥的鄉村、純樸的當地人。坦尚尼亞不如我去過的大部分國家那麼現代化，但它帶給我一種奇妙的熟悉感。此行之前，我以為坦尚尼亞充滿異國情調，與我過去所知的一切完全不同，但它卻讓我感到異樣的熟悉和連結。也許台灣在成為半導體強權之前，和後殖民時期的坦尚尼亞並沒有太大的不同。畢竟，歸根究底，我們都是生活在同一地球的人類、都是熱帶/亞熱帶國家、都經歷過相似的殖民歷史。
我與當地人的互動以及從他們身上學到的東西給我的觀點帶來了最大的衝擊。舉例來說，我們在吉力馬札羅山徒步必須僱用挑夫。我不太確定會是什麼情況，因為我以前徒步時從來沒有其他人幫我搬運過東西。有人說我們幾乎不會跟挑夫互動，所以不要管他們就好。然而，多虧了Callisto，我們最終認識了隊上所有的挑夫，並向他們學習斯瓦希里語。我跟他們聊天時，更深入地了解他們的工作、生活以及坦尚尼亞的旅遊業。 （幫助我攻頂的挑夫伊曼紐今年29歲，夢想能成為一名吉力馬札羅山的登山嚮導。跟我們一起上山的三個月前，他開始學習英語，因為登山嚮導必須能說流利的英語。儘管我們的溝通主要是透過少得可憐的英文和大量的肢體語言，我卻對他的故事產生了高度的共鳴。如果我是一名坦尚尼亞青年，我大概也會和他做同樣的事情吧！）對他們的工作和生活了解越多，我就越尊重他們所做的事。爬這座山本身對我來說已經夠困難了，他們不僅要比我們更快地上山，還要搬運所有的物資（包括我們所有的食物和水）、照顧我們、幫助我們做自己做不到的事。我在美國徒步和背包露營也算是經驗豐富了，但我知道如果沒有他們的幫助，我完全無法在吉力馬扎羅山上撐過一天。
坦尚尼亞人身上的正能量也深深打動了我（當然，我知道我所看到的不一定具有代表性，畢竟我基本上沒出過觀光區）。雖然我在台灣和美國都混得不錯，但在坦尚尼亞，我知道光靠自己我大概一天都撐不過去，因為當地的環境和我習慣的生活方式大相逕庭（我的最佳生長環境是結構化、組織清晰的社會）。然而，我在坦尚尼亞遇到的每個人似乎都充滿旺盛的生命力，他們熱愛他們的山和野生動物、他們為自己的文化感到自豪、他們對大自然的了解比我多了好幾個量級，即使資源不如發達國家，他們依然生活得有聲有色。儘管我在生活的某些方面（例如我的學歷和職涯）取得了不錯的成就，但我在坦尚尼亞人身上看到的一切提醒我，這個廣袤世界上還有許多我不了解的事物和生活方式，我永遠不應該因為自己在某一小方面的成就而驕矜自大。
最後，我非常感謝跟我一起旅行的 Callisto、Andy 和 Conrad。我們在旅途中互相照應，分享物資、藥物、照片。當我們當中任何一個人遇到困難時，其他人都已準備好伸出援手。 （例如，當我和 Callisto 遭受高原反應的暴擊、Conrad 攻頂後精疲力盡時，Andy 一手包辦了一切並確保我們能夠迅速下山。）我喜歡每天紮營後和他們討論我的所見所聞和感想，我也很喜歡傾聽他們的想法，因為他們總有發人深省的觀點。除此之外，這是我多年來第一次跟 Callisto 一起度長假。她是我戶外探險的啟蒙者，她搬走後，我繼續上山下海，旅途中時常想起她。時隔多年，能與她再次一起進行一場史詩級的冒險令我雀躍不已，我們在星空下的篝火邊徹夜長談，就像過去一樣。因為他們，這次旅行從一次冒險昇華為富有意義的人生經歷。希望很快能再次和他們一起旅行。
坦尚尼亞是一次後勁無窮、足以改變我一生的體驗。三個月之後，雖然我還在努力消化我的所見所聞，我已經開始每天提醒自己做出改變。首先，我必須停止擔心我的第一世界問題。去坦尚尼亞之前，我明知許多困擾我的事情對大千世界來說一點也不重要，但我依然在這些問題上浪費時間。我在坦尚尼亞的所見所聞彷彿醍醐灌頂：世界上還有很多更重要的問題，如果其他人可以用比我少得多的資源活出精彩的人生，那我真的必須馬上停止在無關緊要的人事物上浪費心力。我應該把時間和精力集中在對我來說最重要的事情上：對自己生活的掌控、我的家人、我的核心朋友圈。
我一向熱愛旅行，但以前去的大多是自己可以相對順利地遊覽的地方。坦尚尼亞讓我想去更多的開發中國家——雖然去這些地方旅行對我來說會更加困難、會挑戰我現有的世界觀，但是也會讓我快速成長、帶給我新的視角、幫助我欣賞與我不同的人、讓我更成熟，也讓我的人生更有意義。
坦尚尼亞，謝謝你！你在我心中點燃一把火的同時，我似乎也把我的一小片心留給你了。希望我有一天能回來。
